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Enhancing research collaborations and PhD student training with Zhejiang University

Fusion

Supported by the University’s Fusion Investment Fund, Dr . Lihua You will pay a visit to the State Key Lab of CAD & CG, Zhejiang University, China.

Zhejiang University is the second largest university in China. It has become China no. 1 university in Chinese university ranking 2011 (http://edu.qq.com/a/20110505/000133.htm), 2012 (http://edu.qq.com/zt2011/2012dxph/), and 2013 (http://edu.sina.com.cn/gaokao/2012utop/).  The State Key Lab of CAD & CG at Zhejiang University is a world-leading research organization and most prestigious and largest research community in computer aided design and computer graphics in China. It is a unique state laboratory in the field established by Ministry of Science and Technology of China in 1989.  Prof. Jin is a leading researcher in the Lab. He has secured over 40 projects funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China etc. including 31 projects with him as a PI, co-authored three books, and published more than 160 papers including over 60 high quality papers in international journals such as ACM Transactions on Graphics (SIGGRAPH) and IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics.

Prof. Jin has previously collaborated with Prof. Jian J. Zhang and Dr. You. They have already completed a project jointly funded by the Royal Society and National Natural Science Foundation of China. Through completing the project, they have co-authored over 10 papers including some papers published in leading international journals.

The University’s Fusion Investment Fund will enable Dr You’s to visit Prof. Jin late 2014 and have half a month to work with Prof Jin on some funding application proposal, develop new partners for funding bids, identify various funding opportunities and new research topics, plan joint research activities, and discuss co-supervision of their PhD students.

 

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

The following opportunities have been announced. Please follow the links for more information:

The BBSRC Visualising Research competition for designers, graphic artists, software developers, programmers and anyone with an interest in data visualisation is now open. The purpose of this challenge is to develop visualisations of the Gateway to Research data that can be easily understood by the public. Displaying these data in an accessible way will also have benefits for a range of sectors, stakeholders including policy makers, other funding bodies and the media. A prize of £2,000 will be awared on 28/4/14. The closing date for application is 21/03/14.

The EPSRC‘s Centre for Power Electronics is pleased to announce an external call for proposals for funding to carry out Feasibility Studies which align or deliver to the Centre’s vision. Central to this call is the need for submissions to deliver to the vision of the Centre in supporting innovation in the UK power electronics sector. Up to £70,000 per project is available. The closing date is 15:00 on 10/04/14.

In addtion, the EPSRC are support Cross-Cutting Topic Projects (scroll down on page for this call). Up to £300,000 is avaialble per proejct. The closing date for this call is also 15:00 on 10/04/14. 

Through the EPSRC, the RCUK Energy Programme invites expressions of interest from those willing to attend a workshop in Oxford to develop Phase 3 of the UK-India civil nuclear research programmes. The EoI must be submiited by 04/04/14. The workshop is expected to take place 10/06/14 to 12/06/14.

The MOD’s Centre for Defence Enterprise (CDE) (part of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl)), seeks applications regarding Novel electro-optic infrared technology. There will  be a webinar for this competition on Thursday 6 March 2014. The closing date is 08/04/14.

The NERC  Standard Research Grants  is an open competition for curiosity-motivated basic, strategic or applied research in the environmental sciences. Proposals are assessed on their scientific excellence. A minimum of £65,000 to a maximum of £1.2m is awarded. The next round will close on 22/07/14.

Through NERC, the ESPA-2014 Grants call is for ‘blue skies’ research projects designed to significantly advance global understanding on the way that ecosystem services contribute to poverty alleviation, with specific emphasis on generating new understanding that can benefit poor people in low-income countries (LICs). Research funded under ESPA-2014 is expected to inform thinking and practice over, at least, the next decade, representing a step-change in the knowledge and evidence that will underpin future activities in ESPA’s sphere of activity. Awards of up to £150,000 are available. The closing date is 16:00 on 14/05/14.

 NERC is inviting applications to host workshops. One of the activities that helps integration and interaction across the Biodiveristy and Ecosystem Service Sustainability (BESS) projects and extends BESS science into the wider community is through NERC’s programme of workshops and working groups. BESS has internal funds for supporting this activity which can be applied for at any time. Up to £8,000 can be awarded for each workshop, which could include travel for up to two international participants.

The Wellcome Trust invites application from PhD student or junior fellows, funded through the Wellcome Trust Medical Humanities (MH) programme, to undertake a three-month fellowship at the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST). The Fellowship allows unique access to a parliamentary and policy-making setting, thereby facilitating the real-world application of policy relevant research in medical humanities. Applications should reach the Wellcome Trust by 22/11/014.

The Wellcome Trust has announced the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology Fellowship in Society and Ethics. This scheme enables a Wellcome Trust-funded PhD student or junior fellow to undertake a three-month fellowship at the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST). If successful in applying, a fully funded three-month minimum extension to the PhD or fellowship award will be supported, and any maintenance grant will also be paid while based at POST. Travel and accommodation needs will also be considered. Closing date 02/04/14.

 Please note that some funders specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your RKE Support Officer.

You can set up your own personalised alerts on ResearchProfessional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s RKE Officer in RKE Operations or see the recent post on this topic, which includes forthcoming training dates up to November 2014.

Upcoming event for staff and students: Simon Phelps ‘Starting & Growing a Business’

The Centre for Entrepreneurship is delighted to host a presentation by Simon Phelps a BU graduate and founder of Fluvial Innovation Ltd. Simon founded Fluvial Innovations Ltd alongside Bournemouth University in 2006. Fluvial Innovations Ltd designed, developed and patented the modular flood barrier – Floodstop.

Floodstop was specifically designed to fill a gap within the market for a functional and rapidly deployable flood barrier and is used throughout the UK, US and parts of Europe. Awards for Floodstop include Winner of Climate Week – Best Climate Ready Initiative 2013 and Emergency Planning Society’s Most Innovative Product of the Year 2009. To find out more about Floodstop or Fluvial please visit the website: www.fluvial-innovations.co.uk

Join us to hear more about Simon’s journey from being a Bournemouth University Student to running Fluvial Innovations as a growing and sustainable business. You will get a chance to hear about the steps Simon took along the way and find out about his up and downs on the road to success.

This event is for Bournemouth University Staff and Students only.

To book please visit: bit.ly/1lwiaFV 

Research Seminar on “The funding of infectious disease research – data, databases and making it all mean something”

We would like to invite you to our next Software Systems Research Centre (SSRC) and Smart Technology Research Centre (STRC) joint seminar given by Michael Head, University College London, on “The funding of infectious disease research – data, databases and making it all mean something”

 

Room: PG11 (Poole House, Talbot Campus)

Time: 3:00PM–4:00PM

Date: Thursday   06-March-2014

 

 

Abstract:

“Infectious diseases cause significant burden of disease both in the UK and globally. Research into these diseases is vital in order to further our understanding of them, and to aid the implementation of measures to prevent or treat infections. There has not previously been a systematic approach to analysing how funding monies are spent in this area of research. We created the Research Investments in Global Health (ResIn) study and obtained data from all the major public and charitable funding sources for infection-related research awarded to UK institutions for the period 1997-2010. We manually read each study and abstract (if provided) and assigned each study to a number of disease categories (e.g. HIV, tuberculosis, respiratory infections, antimicrobial resistance), as well as the type of science (e.g. laboratory studies, clinical trials) and several other areas.

We identified 6165 funded studies, with a total research investment of UK£2.6 billion. By disease, HIV received £461 million (17.7%), malaria £346 million (13.3%), tuberculosis £149 million (5.7%), influenza £80 million (3.1%), and hepatitis C £60 million (2.3%). We compared funding with disease burden (disability adjusted life years, DALYs, and mortality) to show where there may be low levels of investment relative to burden e.g. diarrhoeal infections (£254 million, 9.7%).  Further steps that we’d like to pursue include expansion from the UK to a global analysis that will allow more in-depth analysis of areas that should be prioritised in the future, and we are seeking funding to do that.

In the meantime, in order to make maximum use of our data, in collaboration with colleagues at Bournemouth University, we intend to create an online open-access database that will allow funders, policymakers and researchers to search and download the customised sections of the funding data, as well as presenting graphs and infographics as requested by the user.  We are also very much open to suggestions for any further collaborative ideas or funding opportunities.  See the study website, www.researchinvestments.org for more information and a list of our publications to date. Or contact Michael Head at m.head@ucl.ac.uk”

We hope to see you all there

One last 1-2-1 Appointment available with Martin Pickard – Wednesday 5th March!

Grants Academy, Guidance, Training

 

These appointments are generally offered to Grants Academy members only however we have 1 slot left. If you feel you would benefit from a ‘face to face’ meeting with Martin in relation to any bid/proposal you are currently working on please contact me Dianne Goodman  preferably today!

Martin currently has the following appointment available on the 5th of March at the following time in the EBC on Lansdowne Campus in Room EB603:

Morning

  • 10:00am – 10:45am

The appointments are approx 45 minutes long

Martin Pickard

With a career background in both Academia and Industry Dr. Martin Pickard of Grantcraft is a specialist in writing and supporting research grant applications and tenders as well as providing administrative and management support services for ongoing projects. During the last 20 years Martin has worked extensively across Europe with a large number of universities, and research institutes as well as industrial firms, ranging from small SME’s to major international companies.

Martin is providing individual 1-2-1 surgeries with any BU academic staff member and works individually and confidentiality with each Principal Investigator as the project is structured and prepared in order to optimize the application documentation from every aspect of the Funders perspective; guiding, steering and showing how to optimize the application throughout the bid process.

Academics at BU who have undertaken his guidance have stated:

 ‘his support and direction was invaluable – Martin gave me some pragmatic suggestions which really helped to shape the bid. His eye for detail made the document much easier to read and the message much clearer. I was very grateful for his input’  Assoc. Prof Heather Hartwell School of Tourism.

The process, although labour intensive, works; with a proven historical average success rates of close to 1 in 2 against norms of (1 in 8 to 1 in 10)

Book Now through me Dianne Goodman 

 

PG Researcher Development Workshops – New Addition for March

PG research

WHAT’S ON in March 2014

Another workshop on Preparing for your First Review has been added to the list of  workshops this month:

  • Preparing for your Viva – 5 March 2014
  • Statistics: Regression Analysis – 6 March 2014
  • Introduction to Focus Groups – 14 March 2014
  • Looking for sources of Funding & How to Write a Research Proposal (for funding) – 17 March 2014
  • Preparing for your First Review – 19 March 2014 (AM)
  • Statistics: Factor Analysis – 19 March 2014 (PM)
  • Time Management – 24th March 2014 (AM)
  • How to Manage your Research Project – 24th March 2014 (PM)
  • Writing for Marketing – 26th March 2014

Full details and sign up lists are available via myBU (Graduate School PGR Community).

Don’t forget that if you have both staff and student email accounts, you’ll need to log on to myBU with your student username and regularly check your student email account for email reminders.

Tourism, Alcohol and Public Health – tensions and opportunities

Fusion

Philip Long and Andy Adams of the School of Tourism are collaborating with Ann Hemingway and Will Haydock of the School of Health and Social Care in a Fusion CCP project that aims to explore issues associated with alcohol consumption, public health and tourism. The project will examine the views of producers and distributors of alcohol products in Bournemouth, Dorset and the New Forest on visitor markets and their regulation. The research team will also explore public health, tourism, planning and local political perspectives on the relationships between policy and practice concerning alcohol and tourism (the visitor and ‘night-time’ economy) in the region.

This project will address research, policy and media discourses on public health concerns about excessive consumption of alcohol among visitors to coastal resorts such as Bournemouth. Although much of this focuses on public order issues relating to young drinkers, captured in the phrase ‘binge’ drinking, there is increasing anxiety surrounding older drinkers.  Nationally, 2012 saw the publication of The Government’s Alcohol Strategy, which noted the importance of ‘chronic diseases’ related to alcohol amongst those aged 25 and over, and promised a review of consumption guidelines that would include specific work on those aged over 65. 

Alongside this there is a research, policy and media focus on more positive connotations of alcohol, such as real ale, rural and urban ‘gastro pubs’, micro-breweries and festivals that are packaged and promoted as tourist attractions in areas such as the New Forest and Dorset. The importance of the real ale industry in the revitalisation of tradition and social, cultural and regional identities is increasingly acknowledged. In addition, given that social capital is understood to affect people’s long-term health, it may be that the social networks involved in real ale appreciation and tourism actually help to foster psychological health and wellbeing.

The key objective of the project is to establish how researchers, practitioners, policy-makers and the wider community can contribute to reconciling these apparently conflicting perspectives.

The research team is developing a mixed-method approach focusing on the consumption, production and distribution and, regulation dimensions of the relationships between alcohol, public health and tourism. We are now working to identify and secure participants in the research and would welcome comments and suggestions from colleagues across the University.

Research Professional – all you need to know

Funding opportunities

Every BU academic has a Research Professional account which delivers weekly emails detailing funding opportunities in their broad subject area. To really make the most of your Research Professional account, you should tailor it further by establishing additional alerts based on your specific area of expertise.

Research Professional have created several guides to help introduce users to ResearchProfessional. These can be downloaded here.

Quick Start Guide: Explains to users their first steps with the website, from creating an account to searching for content and setting up email alerts, all in the space of a single page.

User Guide: More detailed information covering all the key aspects of using ResearchProfessional.

Administrator Guide: A detailed description of the administrator functionality.

In addition to the above, there are a set of 2-3 minute videos online, designed to take a user through all the key features of ResearchProfessional.  To access the videos, please use the following link: http://www.youtube.com/researchprofessional 

Research Professional are running a series of online training broadcasts aimed at introducing users to the basics of creating and configuring their accounts on ResearchProfessional.  They are holding monthly sessions, covering everything you need to get started with ResearchProfessional.  The broadcast sessions will run for no more than 60 minutes, with the opportunity to ask questions via text chat.  Each session will cover:

  • Self registration and logging in
  • Building searches
  • Setting personalised alerts
  • Saving and bookmarking items
  • Subscribing to news alerts
  • Configuring your personal profile

Each session will run between 10.00am and 11.00am (UK) on the fourth Tuesday of each month.  You can register here for your preferred date:

25th March 2014

22 April 2014

27 May 2014

24 June 2014

22 July 2014

26 August 2014

23 September 2014

28 October 2014

25 November 2014

These are free and comprehensive training sessions and so this is a good opportunity to get to grips with how Research Professional can work for you.

Why English Football Player Fail in Penalty Shootouts: German Sport Psychology Researcher Visiting BU

PG research

Recently, the Sport Academic Group hosted researcher Dr Philip Furley from its Erasmus partner institution German Sport University Cologne. Philip works for the Institute of Cognitive and Team/Racket Sport Research and has recently published studies in a number of fields like inattentional blindness and creativity, many of which funded by the prestigious German Research Foundation.

As part of his visit he discussed his work with a selected group of sport academics and postgraduate researchers in a workshop-style format. One of the studies looked into how non-verbal behaviour of athletes is a function of the current score, how this can be reliably interpreted by others – especially opponents who register this which in turn influences their confidence levels.

By extending this research into what Philip calls ‘pop science’, it can be explained why English footballers are more likely to fail in penalty shootouts based on empirical data. ‘Hastening and hiding’ behaviour as a consequence of psychological stress in the penalty situation leads, for example, to submissive non-verbal behaviour like turning your back to the goalkeeper after dropping the ball on the penalty spot and taking little time for the shot after the referee blows the whistle.

Further studies and discussions were around the dangers of coaching instructions to induce an attentional set that controls the focus of attention of athletes. It can lead to structured awareness not adaptive to dynamic situations – for example during on-field decision making which can lead to important information being overseen, like an opponent who ‘unexpectedly’ enters the space of a defender. It was discussed if there were parallels to the way university tutors may be used to structure and present material to students and how this forms their thinking.

“Bringing highly dedicated researchers from internationally leading institutions to BU is an important part of inspiring and guiding research at our university. Philip’s presentations were a fantastic example of work that is driven by deep academic curiosity and high process quality, and his visit has provoked much inspiration and discussion” says Dr Tim Breitbarth, Senior Lecturer and Coordinator Internationalisation in Sport.

Check out the updated Research Ethics website!

Research Ethics

The Research Ethics website has been updated to take into account last week’s ethics restructure implementation. The research ethics restructure sees the formation of two Research Ethics Panels which will act on behalf of the University Research Ethics Committee (UREC), moving from a School-based to an integrated discipline-based model. The restructure identifies the two Research Ethics Panels as Science, Technology & Health and Social Sciences & Humanities.

The updated Research Ethics website includes sections on:

  • The purpose of ethical approval at BU
  • How to apply for ethical review
  • Explanation of the review and approval process for students and staff (to include ‘above minimal risk’ and expedited review)
  • Research Ethics Panels (REP)
  • University Research Ethics Committee (UREC)
  • NHS Ethical Review
  • Training and Guidance
  • Useful Documents
  • Contact Us

Please get in touch with Julia Hastings Taylor if you have any questions on the updated Research Ethics website or if you’d like to see any additional information.

Next Grants Academy – apply by 12th of March for March/April session – only a few spaces left!

Grants Academy, Training

 

The Grants Academy has been described by members as ‘brilliant’, ‘excellent’, ‘extremely educational and stimulating’ and ‘very beneficial’. It has also increased bids submissions from members acting as a Principal Investigator by 41% and 20% as a co-Investigator. Members have significantly increased their funding successes too and obtained funding from organisations such as the AHRC, European Commission, ESRC, British Academy, English Heritage and Burdett Trust for Nursing.

How does the Academy work?  Members attend an initial two day training course off campus, facilitated by an external expert bid writer with a well-developed draft proposal. The training days will cover the art of proposal craftmanship, the rules of the writing game and other invaluable information to help you perfect your proposal during the days. Feedback on these days from existing members have been very positive,  ‘the workshop was the best I have ever attended’. 

Members can then further develop their proposal over a couple of weeks, gaining unlimited support from the external facilitator in doing so and the cohort re-gathers for a mock peer review panel of each other’s applications. This gives a unique insight into this process in a supportive environment and helps further refine the proposal. One member has described this session as ‘[I now have] profound insights in[to] how the system works…and to realize how that must be for professional reviewers’.

What other support is given? Throughout the 18 month membership of the Grants Academy, members benefit form UNLIMITED support from the external facilitator (and in some cases additional external reviewers) which has been invaluable in helping members secure external funding ‘[His] input enabled me to produce a clearer, more logical and convincing proposal. He also alerted me to issues I had not previously considered and encouraged me to think about ‘impact’ and value for the UK in new ways’.

Members also have bespoke assistance from R&KEO in finding funding and collaborators. They also have access to a library of successful proposals from BU, a travel grant (£250), guaranteed places on Funder visits organised for them and surgeries with external facilitators.

How do I apply? To apply for a place, please contact me Dianne Goodman and I will send you a Membership Agreement Form to be signed by you, your line manager and your DDRE. Applications close on Wednesday March 12th 2014 for the next training sessions due to take place on the: 24th and 25th of Mar and the 22nd Apr 2014

If there is a waiting list for spaces on the Grants Academy due to its success and you will be added to this if no places are available on the next cohort. If you find that you are unable to make these dates you may find it helpful to know that we have 1 further Grants Academy session which will be held on the:

12th and 13th of May and the 9th of Jun 2014

You are welcome to apply and register for the next Grants Academy session (March/April) or the session listed above (May/June) and we are happy to put your name on our list for a future session provided you can confirm at the time of applying that you have blocked out these dates in your calendar and we receive your application signed by your line manager and DDRE.

What’s the small print? When making your application, you must ensure that you are available for the 3 dates in their entirety. Membership is only obtained once all training days have been attended. Obligations of membership are that at least one proposal for external funding must be submitted within the first six months of membership. As the training days are attended with a draft proposal, this should be obtainable. Within 18 months at least three proposals for external funding must have been submitted. Failure to meet these obligations will lead to membership being revoked.

If you have any questions about the Grants Academy please get in contact with Dianne Goodman (scheme administrator) or Rebecca Edwards (scheme manager).

Grants Academy Next Workshops – Deadline for your Application to join for the March/April Sessions – 12th March 2014 – get yourself booked in today – only a few spaces left!!

eBU: Online Journal – Reminder to Publish your Posters or Abstracts from the recent PG Annual Conference

PG research

Don’t forget that a great opportunity exists for those who submitted abstracts (oral or poster) to get them published in BU’s online journal –  eBU.

Andy Harding, current PGR and eBU Journal Manager, Editor & Section Editor invites PGRs:

“ who presented work at the 2014 PGR conference to make submissions to eBU, including those that presented posters and abstracts. In addition, PGRs who delivered a presentation may also wish to consider writing up their presentation as a conference paper or even as another type of paper (e.g. a review paper). Regular eBU protocol is immediate internal publication and open peer review. However, a series of deadlines have been set for submission associated with the PGR conference, and on this occasion only conference papers will be reviewed. Authors of paper submissions are encouraged to use the feedback in order to increase their chances of publication in an external journal.

However, publishing abstracts and posters is also beneficial. Publishing abstracts and posters on eBU will open up the focus of your work to the whole university, and in the process make the BU community aware of the focus of your research. Should you choose, poster and abstract submissions, alongside papers that are not published externally, will be among the first publications on the external eBU site”

Further details can be found on the Graduate School website and myBU (Graduate School PGR Community)

Book Now! Leverhulme Trust – our next funder visit March 19th 2014

Funding opportunities, Grants Academy, Training

Following on from our well attended visit from the AHRC and the British Academy I am pleased to remind you that the Leverhulme Trust will be visiting us next on the 19th of March – it is not too late to get yourself booked in….

Working on a variety of initiatives in R&KEO over the years, one element of development which we receive consistently excellent feedback, is the events we arrange where funders come to BU and present their organisations funding priorities and give advice on making an application. We have arranged for several funders to visit BU in 2014, we have already hosted visits from the AHRC and the British Academy and are pleased to announce our next arranged visit is with the Leverhulme Trust.

This will be taking place on Wednesday 19 March 2014, and Jean Cater (Mrs) The Assistant Director from the Leverhulme Trust which funds all academic disciplines will be visiting to discuss their grants and give advice on making an application.

Spaces on this event are becoming limited due to the room available so booking is essential!

Grants Academy members can be guaranteed a space by emailing Dianne. Or by emailing Staff Development

The booking hyperlink is:

Leverhulme Trust  funder visit

This is taking place mainly over the lunchtime period (12 midday until about 1pm -1:30pm ish) so please feel free to bring your lunch with you

We look forward to seeing as many of you who can make it.

Towards Platform Agnostic Software Development for Games

PG research

We would like to invite you to the next research seminar of the Creative Technology Research Centre that will be delivered by Karsten Pedersen.

 

Title: Towards Platform Agnostic Software Development for Games

Time: 2:00PM-3:00PM                

Date: Wednesday 5th March 2014

Room: P302 (Poole House, Talbot Campus)

 

Abstract: With the rapid introduction and deprecation of mobile platforms it is becoming increasingly necessary to develop games in a portable manner so that as much work as possible is transferable between them. This talk looks towards changes which can be made to the development pipeline that can help create a game in a more platform agnostic manner, whilst still being able to utilize any unique features native to a device that the players will want to take advantage of. An explanation is provided of what DeepThought, the main tool facilitating all this, is and how it can be used to develop games in a modular and portable manner. The handling and inlining of different languages with a tool called Iffe will also be covered. Together, these two technologies can greatly simplify the development process by not just simply providing a cross platform game engine for existing platforms but also by providing a generic solution that can be adapted to any future technology.

 

We hope to see you there.